Rockford, Illinois is the second largest city in the Land of Lincoln, whose high school
athletic roots are very, very rich. The following history only scratches the surface:

The origins of education in Rockford can be traced back to the founding of Rockford by Thatcher Blake and
Germanicus Kent in the early 1830s. For the next twenty-five years, schools were set up on both the east and west sides of
the Rock River. In 1854, these schools were placed in two districts: East No. 1 and West No. 2. Union Schools were built in
1857 on each side of the River, and in 1862 high schools were established. From 1862 until 1885 there were truely two separate
schools for "East" and "West".

In 1884, the two districts came together and thus established a single high school. Twenty graduates exited
Rockford High School in 1885.

Dating back to 1885, Rockford's athletics and extra-curriculars were at one time the best in the state.
Rockford High School served this ever-growing community on South Madison street on the East side of the Rock River.

The "Annual", entitled "The Owl" was founded in 1890 and published continually starting in 1892. Rockford
High is said to be the second high school in the country to establish a yearbook. A Student Council was formed in
1921.

They were the first high school in the United States to organize a band that played at halftimes
of football games!!This started in 1907 and carried on until the closing of 1940, but it's roots
still alive in the Rockford East High School band. Today, a large majority of the nation's football games feature a halftime
performance by their schools marching band.

About 100 students were enrolled in Rockford High School in 1885. That number grew to 600 in 1900. In forty
years that number would nearly multiply by six.

In the late 1930's, the school grew too large and it was best
for them to build two schools (East and West) for students to attend. This became a reality in 1940, when 940 seniors graduated
from the school and had a total enrollment of 3,400. Rockford West (featured on this site) served the western part of the
city for 48 years, and Rockford East is still around, carrying on the roots of Rockford High School.

Another interesting note is that Rockford's baseball diamonds were used by the Rockford Peaches girls professional
baseball team starting in 1940, made famous in the movie A League of Their Own.

RHShas two buildings attached to it and an underground hallway called the "Rat Alley."
The hallway connected the first building to the second building. The basement of the haunted area used to be the shop area
and housed small machines for the male students to practice machine skills. It is not clear what happened down there, but
the custodians do not like to go down there at night, the lights will turn on after being turned off. Something's crazy with
the lights in the building.

Rockford is also one of only a handful of schools that are deactivated leaving an IHSA State Championship
behind them. They won eight of them.

Central High School "Quick Facts":

Year opened: 1885Year
closed: 1940

New school for students: East and West high schools Building used for now:
Rockford Public School Dist. 205 offices

School Colors: Red and BlackSchool
Nickname: the "RABS" (after the school colors "Red
And Black-S)

School Song: below

"Let us voice our loy-al-ty, in a stir-ring, ring-ing cheer.For the team that fights so splen-did-ly.For
the colors we re-vere - Hoorah! Rah!Go Rockford go! Right at the foe! Go, Rockford go!Hoorah! Rah! So go Rockford
go! We're cheering you nearing the goal line, Rockford go!Plunging, advancing, the ball never yieldVictory we
must know (Rah! Rah! Rah!)"

Rockford Central High School

Credit: Lake County Discovery Museum/Curt Teich Postcard Archives

First Rockford H.S. Band

1907

Rockford H.S. State Basketball Champions

1939-1911-1919

Athletics

Being one of the largest high schools in the state of Illinois, they had an abundance of athletic success. They won eight
state championships, in Boys Basketball in 1911, 1919 and in 1939; becoming the first school to win three championships
in Basketball. They also won four Track and Field championships: 1896, 1927, 1933 and 1935. They also won a Swimming championship
in 1933.

In its earliest days, there was such a group called the Rockford High School Athletic Association. It
was founded on January 22, 1892 with 37 charter members (students). Fred Rutledge ('92) was named the first President of the
Association. The Association took the place of the defunct Gymnasium Association, which ran from 1886 until 1892.

Page 48 of the 1892 "Owl" describes this Athletic Association:

"The new Association does things up in a business-like style, charging admission to foot-ball games and thus getting
outside teams to come to Rockford, but John Bukes gets a good share of it for the apparatus purchased of him ...

One of the best ways to get the attention and interest of people to the High School, is through athletics. But the
High School does not carry on Athletics at the sacrifice of the Literary Society, which is a very flourishing institution,
and Friday afternoon you may hear a dignified young man speak to the delight (?) of the audience on Free Silver, Reciprocity,
etc; the next day you will see him "buck" the man opposite him in the rush line like a professional.

It is more difficult in a public High School like this to awaken interest enough in Athletics to make it a school
enterprise, than it is an Academy or a College, and so we think it is doing well to keep foot ball and base ball teams always
in readiness to play.

Pupils of the R.H.S. have no sympathy for persons who say that running base ball nines, getting out annuals, etc.,
is making a high school too much of a College, for the spirit is just as beneficial to a High School as a College and spirit
is what we want."

BOYS BASKETBALL

According to the IHSA Website (www.ihsa.org), Rockford was one of the most successful teams in the state in the early years of the IHSA. In a 30-year span, from 1910
to 1940, they qualified for the state tournament 12 times! They won state championships in 1911, 1919 and
1939. In its' history, Rockford Central compiled a win-loss record of 470 wins and 189 losses, good for a .713 winning percentage.

The first basketball team was organized in 1904 by L.G. Dake. In 1906, they were Champions of "Northern Illinois outside
of Cook County" by defeating Freeport 41-34. Rockford was among the best teams in the state prior to 1910,
but chose not to participate in the inaugural IHSA State Tournament in 1908. This was because they were considered "Champions
of the State" already (by defeating Washington 57-21 to finish at 15-0) and did not want to defend their title in this new
"tournament". More of what can be expanded on this topic is mentioned in a chapter of the book "100 Years of March
Madness" by Scott Johnson, among others.

A December 20, 1929 game pitting Rockford and Aurora East high schools went into five overtimes, with East pulling this
one out, 31-29.

Rockford played their games in the city's Armory, where in the last game ever played there, Hebron defeated them for
the Sectional Championship by the score of 36-24.

The lightweight basketball team provided to be a valuable training ground for future heavyweights at Rockford Central.
Those players who were below 5'9" won conference championships for the RABS in 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1932, 1934, and 1935.

*******

It should be noted that GIRLS BASKETBALL preceded the Boys program. The first girls basketball team
was formed in 1901. In 1903, they pulled off two wins against a Polo squad that had never been beat. They would win the Championship
of "Northern Illinois outside of Cook County" over Freeport 10-6.

FOOTBALL

With the founding of the R.H.S. Athletic Association in 1892, the first football team was fielded. Early rivals included
Janesville, Beloit and Madison, all of Wisconsin. In all, 405 football games were played, 262 of them were victories for the
RABS for a winning percentage of .646!

Beginning in 1917, the team competed in the Big 7 Conference. The 1939 team began the season at 3-0 before losing the
next four games and tying Elgin High School 6-6 in the final football game ever played by Rockford High School.

The 1899 team is noted for derailing a Madison team (11-0) that had never lost to a high school in four years. In the
early days of high school football, high schools could play against local organizations and higher learning institutions.

As mentioned, the halftimes of football games were provided with entertainment from the Rockford High School band, the
first in the United States. Rockford also had one of the first football teams in the state of Illinois. They cheered their
football classmates with excellent pride. Their records are shown below:

Some may say that Track and Field was Rockford Central's premier sports, though they had plenty. Four
of the school's eight state championships were awarded in Track and Field. The tradition was carried over to the East and
West high schools where they achieved greater success. The roots of the program go back to 1895 and won a state championship
nearly 110 years ago in 1896.

We know that Rockford Central offered Baseball, evident in the diamonds used for the Rockford Peaches. There are no records
available for those teams. Linda Hess conducted research that revealed Rockford High School defeated Plano
High School in a game in 1909 by a score of 3 - 1.

Great Coach

Mr. Charles Beyer was the head coach for five of Rockford Central's eight state championship
teams. He coached Football, Swimming, and Track and Field in addition to Boys' Basketball. An elementary school as well as
a stadium in Rockford have been named in his honor.

Mr. Jim Laude was a superb coach in the Rockford high schools. After starting at Rockford Central,
where he coached Basketball, Golf, and lightweight Football, he went to Rockford East after the split and led the
golf team to five more state championships and the basketball team to a handful of state tournament appearences. He was inducted
as a charter member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1973, along with former player William
Erickson. He had a record of 457-191 in Basketball.

Famous Alumni & Notables in Rockford Central History

Tony Roskie (1924) -- Roskie was a standout athlete at Rockford High
School, from which he graduated in 1924. Eventually, he became a popular coach and athletic director at Woodstock High School.
He was named to the Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1977 and as a coach in 1979. Roskie died in
1995 at the age of 89.

Harry (Hap) Milne (1904) -- Played right guard on the 1903 mythical state football champions, later
had a 35-year career as a local sportswriter with the Rockford Republic and Rockford Morning Star.

Frank Landers -- Sportswriter who coined the nickname RABS

Ralph (Moon) Baker (1921) -- Played on state runner-up basketball team in 1921, later was a football
All-American at Northwestern (1926) and led the Wildcats to the Big 10 title that season. Also played professional basketball
with the Chicago Bruins in the late 1920's....is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame (http://www.collegefootball.org/famer_selected.php?id=20028)

Harry (Skin) England (1920) -- Member of 1919 mythical state football champions, skipped college and
played two seasons with the Chicago Staleys/Bears.

Rex Enright (1919) -- Also played football, later starred at Notre Dame for Knute Rockne. Enright was
a member of the 1919 state basketball champions, and later was football coach & athletic director at the University of
South Carolina. He also spent two years with the Green Bay Packers.

Lawrence (Laurie) Wahlquist (1918) -- played quarterback for the Chicago Bears over a ten-year period
from 1922-31, prior to that, he was all-conference in basketball and football at the University of Illinois.

From our good friend Mark Jurenga:

John Bayard Anderson (Class of 1939)

*B.S. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign*J.D. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign*LL. M. Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA.

More information is being sought about Rockford High School; use the Guest Commentary Form or the School
Submission Form to sumbit. Corrections are welcome as well. If you have more Information about Rockford High School, including
a photo of the school, nickname, and other great teams and high school memories you would like to share please e-mail this
website at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net.